IAAF weighs Russian reinstatement again

PARIS: The International Athletics Federation (IAAF) will look for the 10th time at the reinstatement of Russia, at meetings in Doha on Monday and Tuesday.

Russia has been suspended since November 2015 after the eruption of a vast state-sponsored doping scandal. The IAAF, which convenes three times a year, has discussed the issue at every meeting since then. While the situation has changed in recent months, the IAAF’s requirements for the return of Russian colours to the track do not seem to have been satisfied.

At their meeting in Monaco in December, the IAAF set two conditions.

The first, the recovery of data from the Moscow anti-doping lab seems, to have been met and the World Anti-Doping Agency is working its way through the files they have recovered.

The second is that Russia pays what the IAAF says are substantial costs created by the scandal.

“For the moment all the conditions have not been met,” Bernard Amsalem, French athletics federation president and one of the 27 members of the IAAF Council told AFP. “We must not go faster than the music.”

The International Olympic Committee lifted their suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee a year ago. WADA reinstated Russia in September. Russia’s Paralympic ban was lifted in early February.

Although the International Biathlon Federation still excludes Russia, the IAAF is the last of the high-profile international sports bodies to ban athletes from competing under the Russian flag, although many Russians are allowed to compete under a neutral banner.

Tremors from the scandal continue. A dozen more Russian athletes were suspended on February 1 based on the revelations of the McLaren report on the doping. The 12 included high jumper Ivan Ukhov who was stripped of his 2012 Olympic gold.

The IAAF Council will also discuss a proposal by its Race Walking Committee to reduce distances at major events, replacing the 20km and 50km races with 10km and 30km events for both sexes.